= = = =
T E N
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By R. E.
(ranma_e@hotmail.com)
Illustrations by Irka
(irka@ciudad.com.ar)
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CHAPTER TEN
"My Sweet Halcyon's Fall"
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Ranma sat perched upon a small boulder, plucking daisy after daisy from
the grassy verge that ran alongside the stream. She idly tore the petals
from the flower she held, as she had from a dozen before it, barely paying
any attention to what she was doing. The frozen petal fell from her
fingers, falling heavily to the ground and shattering like glass, its
shards joining a growing pile at the base of the boulder.
"We're wasting time," she commented sourly, crushing the stamen. "We'd be
there by now if you didn't insist on wasting time every day. What are you
doing, anyway?"
Akane ignored Ranma's question, but the frown upon her face deepened with
every flower the redhead tore from the ground. She did not respond,
however, choosing to remain still and silent, crouched over the softly
flowing waters of the stream.
Ranma sighed irritably and crumpled yet another daisy in her hands. Akane
was growing increasingly recalcitrant, a trait which had begun to wear thin
Ranma's patience. In the half-year since her awakening under Happosai's
guidance, it seemed that Akane had become acutely aware of her innate
abilities. Despite Ranma's nearly nine-hundred years of experience in the
area, the Tendo girl seemed increasingly unwilling to accept any sort of
advice or instruction.
The evergrowing confidence her student displayed worried her, not least
because the six months Akane had spent experiencing the life of a dragon
had remained oddly uninterrupted by the Hunters. Surviving in the real
world - on the run from real enemies - was an essential skill that Ranma
had learned only through painful experience. Akane could not hope to
comprehend it, no matter how much the dragonling might have believed she
could.
Akane's face was obscured by her hair, the once-black strands having
adopted a striking blue pattern as they had grown. Akane's hair had grown
long since her awakening, and now extended down slightly below her
shoulders. She usually kept it fastened in a loose ponytail, but insisted
upon letting it dangle loose every morning as she performed her ritual.
It was yet another of her habits that Ranma did not understand.
A vague outline of Akane's face was visible through the hair, and for a
time Ranma watched her lips move, trying to discern exactly what she was
saying. As she had many times before, Ranma eventually abandoned her
efforts and returned her attention to their surroundings.
The lack of enemy attacks had allowed her to lower her guard ever so
slightly, and she chastised herself for doing so. She knew better than to
hope the attacks would stop; a respite, even a six-month respite, was
nothing to celebrate. It was a curiosity, that was for sure, but not
something that should be taken for granted. She pondered the
possibilities, the reasons and the explanations for the lack of attacks
each night as she watched Akane sleep, but she had been unable to come up
with any concrete answers.
This fact troubled her greatly. She was used to having some sort of idea,
however vague, of what the Hunters were planning. A pause of this duration
was unprecedented. By her reckoning, Ukyo would not bother either of them
again for twenty years - perhaps longer - but the Hunters were long
overdue. The only possibility she could think of was that the enemy knew
something she did not; this did nothing to ease her concerns.
It was such worries that had led her to, two months prior, begin searching
the Phoenix installations she knew of for information. Over the years she
had managed to glean information regarding the locations of several Phoenix
facilities. She did not know much about them - most of her time was spent
avoiding the Hunters, not trying to find them - but it was a start.
Together, she and Akane had infiltrated three such installations - two
server facilities and a data processing centre. Their visits had gone well
- covertly enter at night, recover whatever information was available, and
leave before anyone noticed they were there. It had worked well so far,
but had not produced any worthwhile results. Phoenix was, apparently, a
very large organisation, and stored a vast amount of data. Little of it
was of any use to her.
Still, perseverance was the key. Their next target was a research
facility hidden in the middle of Osaka. She did not like entering such a
densely populated area, but such risks had to be taken. The research
facility was nearby - if they weren't running behind schedule, they would
have already been in and out.
"How much longer are you going to sit there?" Ranma asked, her thoughts
leading her back to her irritation. Again, she was ignored. She grated
her teeth; this was starting to get very annoying.
Akane slowly lowered her hands to the surface of the water and waved her
fingers back and forth as she swept them along with the current, mimicking
the motions of the tiny waves. The water curled with her fingers, thin
tendrils of liquid curling over her skin as she stroked the surface. Their
movement was not sinister; more than anything else, it seemed as though the
water was reciprocating her embrace.
It was a habit that Ranma had witnessed on many occasions. She had long
since given up on trying to understand it, but took comfort in the fact
that it was usually performed near the end of Akane's daily ritual, so at
least the pair would be on their way again soon.
In a way, she supposed, it meant that Akane was receptive to her draconic
heritage. Certainly, Ryujin's affinity for water was shining through; six
months ago Akane was frightened to go near water, now, she embraced it
every morning. Acceptance of the dragon was an important step, and it was
good that Akane was so willing to accept her true nature.
If only I could do something about her damned impudence, Ranma thought with
a sigh.
* * *
"I like your taste in clothes, but I really don't see how this get-up is a
good disguise," Akane said, walking behind Ranma down a busy street. She
fidgeted irritably with the outfit she had been forced to wear.
The platform boots were clunky and unwieldy beneath feet that were used to
being bare, the tight skirt and blouse both revealing and chilly compared
to her gi. The boots had taken some getting used to, and even after
walking quite some distance in them she still found herself wobbling with
each step, unused to the extra height they afforded her.
"You blend in well," Ranma replied, glancing up at the now much taller
Akane. She pulled her cloak, which now resembled an ordinary black
trench coat, tightly around herself. "You look quite the local girl."
"I guess so. I've never really visited anywhere in Kansai before," Akane
commented, letting her attention turn to the city around them. Cars
jostled for position as they crawled endlessly down the road, which was
adorned on both sides by an endless parade of pedestrians. "This place is
so full of people. It's wonderful. Reminds me of home."
"Crowded with people, cars, and pollution. I don't see what's so great
about it," Ranma replied, walking slowly down the centre of the pavement.
The crowds of oncoming people parted to either side of her as she walked,
her eyes shifting warily back and forth amongst them as they passed.
"All those people," Akane said, her voice rising with her enthusiasm. She
smiled as a group of boys made their way past her, her eyes lingering upon
their faces. Each of the boys returned her smile with wondrous looks in
their eyes, one of them managing a wave, which was returned by Akane.
"It's teeming with life. It feels -alive- here."
"You say that as if it's a good thing," Ranma replied, her eyes watching
every face as it passed her by, checking each for any sign of recognition,
of panic or alarm. She spared a glance behind herself, frowned, and
snatched Akane's hand mid-wave. "These humans just get in the way."
"They look scared of you," Akane observed, glancing over Ranma's shoulder.
The multitude of faces carried worried glances, the expressions of people
who felt intimidated. Each person was the same; they would glance at Ranma
and quickly shuffle aside to let the girl past. Ranma seemed to cut a
swath through the crowds, parting the sea of people long enough to pass
through. Glancing behind herself, Akane noticed the gap closed behind them
as the people on either side of the pair came together once more.
"That's because they are," Ranma said, her voice low. She turned and
whispered, "They may not know it in their minds but in their hearts they
know what I am. Humans fear death - it's just their instinct. Even so,
they all come to me in the end."
Akane opened her mouth to reply but was distracted by the feeling of a hand
brushing across the swell of her hip as it passed her by. Her head whirled
to the left as she felt the warmth of the hand soak into her skin;
ordinarily she would have felt angry at some pervert trying to grab her,
but the wonderful heat came as such a surprise she could do little but
stare after the man as he disappeared into the throng.
Ever since she had entered the city she had felt an everpresent warmth upon
the air, a distinct sense that the area was brimming with life - but it
paled into comparison with the intensity of the feeling a simple touch from
a person had created in her. She lowered her hand and pressed it gently to
her hip, holding it to the fabric of her skirt as she savoured the
lingering warmth of the contact.
What on Earth was that?
"Akane, come on. We're nearly there."
Her thought pattern broken, she turned to Ranma, who had stopped and was
waiting for her, a nonplussed expression on her face. If something had
happened, apparently Ranma had not noticed it. With a final, thoughtful
glance behind her, she resumed walking.
* * *
"That's it?"
"Yeah," Ranma replied with a nod. The building was unobtrusive; a small,
three-storey building block that blended in with every other building along
the street. It did not stand out in any way - and that was the way it was
designed.
"You're telling me it's in a dentist's office?" Akane asked, a skeptical
tone to her voice. She craned her head, peering over the stacked-up boxes
that concealed her from the street. From the alleyway in which they had
sought refuge, she could see little of the building's interior.
"No, there is no dentist and there is no office. From what I could tell
the last time I was here, the building is basically empty inside. It's
just an entrance."
"Okay, so, let's go," Akane suggested, taking a step toward the building.
She stopped in her tracks as Ranma grabbed her by the hair and tugged her
backwards. "Ow!"
"Not so fast," Ranma chided. "Don't be so eager. We're going to stay here
and wait for a while."
"For what? That lab isn't going to infiltrate itself, you know," Akane
countered sarcastically, straightening her hair.
"Two things," Ranma said with a sigh. She was beginning to become tired of
Akane's constant challenges to her decisions. "Firstly, it'll be easier to
get inside unnoticed if we wait until nightfall. Secondly, it'll give me a
chance to see if anyone is watching the building from the outside."
"It doesn't look so dangerous to me," Akane said, rolling her eyes.
"You're way too paranoid about this whole thing."
"I have reason to be," Ranma replied irritably. "This is a research lab.
That's higher on the tree than some backup server facility in the middle of
nowhere. Chances are, this place is being watched very carefully, and we
do NOT want to be seen."
"Oh, fine," Akane replied. She slumped against the alley wall and slid
downwards into a sitting position, her knees tucked up against her chest.
"Okay, we'll wait for nightfall."
"Thank you," Ranma said sarcastically, sending a caustic glance Akane's
way. Why did she accept such disrespect from Akane? Kayoko would never
have tolerated it from her. The student should respect the master. That
was the very first lesson she had learned. Akane was just being childish.
The conversation lapsed into silence as Ranma surveyed the building,
watching carefully every person who passed by. There were no signs she
could see that anyone was watching from the street, and she could not see
any faces behind the windows of the other buildings along the street.
At first glance, things looked good for a covert entry.
"Ranma?"
"What?" Ranma replied, not moving. An old man with a collection of grocery
bags stopped outside the building, placing them upon the ground. He
glanced left and right as he stood for a moment, seemingly catching his
breath, before lifting the bags and continuing on his way. Ranma eyed him
suspiciously, examining his facial expression. He seemed innocuous
enough, but she could never be sure ...
"I was looking for Ukyo."
"Huh?" Ranma asked, her train of thought derailed by the mention of that
name. "You were what?"
"You asked what I was doing this morning. I was looking for Ukyo."
"Why?" Ranma inquired, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the prickling
sensation that ran across the back of her neck. The subject of Ukyo Kuonji
was one that she had been careful to avoid ever since the incident.
She had first mentioned her fight with Ukyo, and the result of that fight,
nearly a month after the fact. Akane had seemed strangely calm and
accepting of it as she was told, but after that conversation the young girl
lapsed into a silence that lasted for nearly two weeks. Ranma worried, of
course, unsure of what to say or do. The resulting decision was always
"nothing", leaving silence between them for fourteen days and thirteen
nights.
When Akane finally spoke again, she talked of the beautiful sunset of that
day, all traces of her curiosity regarding Ukyo seemingly banished from her
mind. Ranma had wondered about it, but did not desire to discuss the
matter further, knowing it would only complicate things. She felt better
for having told her young charge the truth, and things seemed to be back to
normal.
Things were not back to normal, however; Akane began to shrink into
herself, the conversations they had once shared becoming more and more
scarce, the smiles that had once illuminated her face became rarer and
rarer until they seemed to disappear entirely. She began her ritual,
kneeling each morning over a body of water, whether it be a river, a pond,
or even a muddy puddle in the middle of a field. These moments, when she
was alone with the water, were the times in which she still smiled.
"I wanted to apologise to her," Akane explained, pressing her thumbs
against each other as she sat in the murky alleyway. She glanced up at
Ranma, a wistful expression on her face. "I wanted to let her know I'm
sorry she's dead."
"It doesn't matter," Ranma replied with a snort. "She's better off dead
than alive. Death is a kindness to a girl like her."
"It -does- matter, Ranma," Akane countered, a sharp edge coming to her
voice. It was not an angry tone, more of an expression of frustration.
"She's dead. I'm going to find her, and I'm going to apologise."
"If it makes you feel any better," Ranma conceded with a sigh. She did not
approve of the idea, but in her experience she had learned that Akane was
not one to back down on such things. On some issues she just had to
compromise.
"Ever since Happosai showed me," Akane continued, using her own euphemism
for the awakening, "I've heard voices. Not loud voices, just ... they're
like someone whispering to me. I thought I was going crazy, but eventually
I figured out that they were coming from the water. I tried ignoring them
for a while, but it just didn't work. Eventually, I thought - what if I
talk back? What happens then?"
Ranma said nothing, but moved away from the alley's end toward the Tendo
girl, a curious look upon her face. It was clear to her that Akane had not
been forthcoming at all when it came to her experiences. She wondered for
a moment just what Akane knew.
"I still don't understand what they're saying," Akane continued. "It's as
if they're all trying to speak at once. I know they can understand me -
when I ask them to do something for me, they listen."
"The water listens?"
"The people inside the water," Akane said, a small smile passing briefly
across her face. "I guess it sounds stupid, but I can hear them, and I
know they can hear me. I think they're glad to see me."
Ranma peered at Akane curiously, sitting down on the opposite side of the
alleyway. Pulling her feet in under herself, she looked across at Akane.
"You know more than I thought you did. Water holds the essence of the
living until it can find a body to live within. Once the body dies, the
life force returns to the waters to be born again."
Akane nodded and tilted her head downwards, staring into her own lap. The
faint edges of a smile were visible, and Ranma knew that what she was
saying made sense to her companion.
"So you want to find Ukyo beneath the surface and speak to her?"
"Yeah," Akane replied, her cheeks flushing. "I know you think it's stupid.
I don't expect you to understand why. You wear death like that cloak - I
know Ukyo is just another corpse to you."
"You're right, I don't understand. I'm not going to stop you, but I don't
think you'll have any luck."
"Why?"
"If you spill a drop of water into the ocean, you can't ever get that drop
back again. It becomes part of the whole, it loses its individuality and
is no longer a drop of water, but a part of the ocean."
"She was a person, she was more than just a drop of water!" Akane insisted.
"Was she?" Ranma asked, fixing her student with a piercing stare.
Akane sighed and rubbed her feet back and forth along the rough gravel that
lined the alley. "I thought ... I thought maybe I could find my mother,
too."
"Your mother isn't in the water. She died the death of a dragon."
"What does -that- mean?" Akane asked, curling her toes - out of dread or
morbid anticipation, Ranma could not tell.
"Dragons aren't borne of the waters, so they do not return to them. When
she died, her essence passed to you. There's no need to search for her -
she's already a part of you. Just as my father is a part of me."
"Then why can't I feel her? Why isn't she there?" Akane asked, desperation
in her voice. "Why won't she talk to me?"
"She is there, believe me," Ranma replied, offering a comforting smile.
"Perhaps she'll make herself known when she's ready."
"Does your father ...?"
"Sometimes," Ranma replied, leaning back against the alley wall. She
glanced upwards, at the azure sky that peeked through the gaps between
buildings. A wry smile crept across her features. "Usually just to remind
me that I'm being lazy, or that I did something wrong, or that I've
forgotten one of his lessons. I haven't heard from him for a while, but I
know he's there, watching over me."
"He must love you, to watch over you for eight hundred years," Akane
observed.
"I guess," Ranma replied with a shrug. "I don't know. Maybe he's got no
choice. Why would he love the Lord of Death?"
With a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head, Akane let silence fall
into the gap between them. Ranma watched her closely as she rested against
the wall, eyes tracking every tiny movement, from the rise and fall of her
chest to the occasional twitch of her fingers.
"What are you looking at?" Akane asked after a time, shifting uncomfortably
as she spoke.
"You," Ranma replied bluntly. "Is it a problem?"
"No, I guess," Akane replied, turning herself away slightly. "It's just
kinda weird. I'm not used to people looking at me like that."
"It's my duty to watch you. I would have thought you'd be used to it by
now."
"That's not what I mean and you know it," Akane grumbled, folding her knees
tightly up against her chest.
"No, I don't know," Ranma admitted with a shrug.
"Oh, nevermind," Akane said with a sigh. Lowering her chin to her knees,
she glanced up toward the sky, sighing once more as she noticed it was
still a bright shade of blue. "This lab better have something useful
inside."
* * *
"Keep quiet," Ranma instructed, an arm across Akane's chest to hold her
back against the wall. She glanced left and right, her eyes seeking out
any sort of movement. The streets were illuminated by a multitude of
sodium lights, each with its own distinctive flicker that combined together
to light the street with a dull glow.
Occasionally a car would speed by, the noise of its engine echoing through
the quiet that covered the neighbourhood. This was a market area, and not
many people lived nearby, so the night provided just the sort of
environment suited to an infiltration.
Keeping Akane beside her, Ranma edged her way along the wall toward the
door, taking great care to remain hidden amongst the shadows. She would
much rather have left Akane outside, but the Tendo girl had seemingly
infinite curiosity and refused to be left out of anything that might relate
to her. Even if that were not the case, the thought of leaving Akane alone
at night on a city street was not one to be taken seriously.
"Fingerprint access," Ranma whispered to Akane as she inspected the front
door's locking mechanism. A small, elegant black pad protruded from the
door frame in place of a traditional lock. "Rather elaborate for a
dentist. You'd think they'd be more discreet."
"Don't you think going in through the front door is a bit dangerous?" Akane
asked, peering over Ranma's shoulder at the door in question. "I mean,
won't they be expecting that?"
"Would you expect your enemy to come marching in through your front door?
Or would you expect them to try something sneaky?"
"Sneaky, I guess," Akane admitted with a shrug.
"Exactly," Ranma replied. "They expect their building to be entered from
the rear, or through a window. So we do the opposite of what they expect."
"You've done this before, haven't you," Akane inquired, her curious gaze
going unnoticed in the dark. Ranma's tone was one of enjoyment and
mischief, a curious sound that Akane had never really heard before.
"Believe it or not, one of your ancestors was a master thief. She could
empty your pockets and be long gone before you could blink. There wasn't a
lock built that could keep her out for long. I learned a lot from her,"
Ranma replied as she silently withdrew Garyoutensei from the depths of her
cloak. She turned and smiled at the puzzled expression that crossed
Akane's face. "I'll tell you all about her some other time."
"Please do," Akane replied, watching closely as Ranma pressed the tip of
Garyoutensei to the small gap between door and door frame and began sliding
it downwards. A thief? In her family? She'd always assumed that she came
from a long line of martial artists. How could she be descended from a
thief?
"The thing about locks," Ranma explained in a hushed voice, interrupting
Akane's thoughts, "is that no matter how strong or secure, there's always a
weak point."
Akane nodded absentmindedly, not really taking in the meaning of the words,
but not wanting to appear inattentive. She focused herself on what Ranma
was doing - the tip of Garyoutensei slid slowly down through the gap,
hissing as it made contact with the metal cylinders that held the door
closed.
"All you have to do is find it and you're in," Ranma finished, a satisfied
smile on her face as the metal, solid though it may have been, quickly gave
way to the intense heat Garyoutensei brought to bear upon it. "The trick
is knowing how to find the weak point quickly."
"Just like that," Akane commented, the ambivalence in her voice obvious
even to herself. Was she supposed to be impressed by such a dishonourable
act?
"Just like that," Ranma agreed, sheathing her sword once more. She held
the door closed with one hand and turned to Akane. "From here on in, we
have to be very quiet. Just stay near to me, and don't do anything unless
I do it first. Okay?"
"Okay," Akane said, nodding her assent, all the while trying to ignore the
moisture that was developing in the palms of her hands. For just a moment
she wondered why nervousness had only reared its ugly head at that instant,
but quickly pushed that thought to one side as Ranma silently opened the
door.
"Let's go."
* * *
Akane crept quietly after Ranma through the interior of the building, which
looked for all intents and purposes exactly as she imagined a dentist's
office should. A large waiting area dominated the room, the perimeter
lined with a series of chairs, each side allocated a small glass table with
what appeared to be magazines stacked atop each one.
She could not make out the exact magazines in the darkness, nor did she
have the inclination to do so; Ranma's example was a demanding one to
follow.
She crept as quietly as she could, but compared to Ranma's effortless glide
across the floor, her own steps seemed awkward and clumsy. She wondered
why she hadn't thought to take off the large, clunky boots she had been
given. Ranma moved slowly - a blessing for Akane, who would have struggled
to keep up a faster pace and still be quiet - as she examined the room,
carefully scanning every area for cameras, or other types of sensors,
before each step.
They inched their way around the room, slowly but deliberately making their
way toward a small door behind what appeared to be a receptionist's desk.
It was the only door besides the entrance, leaving them few options.
As they drew near the door, Ranma held up one hand in a "stop" gesture,
something Akane was only too happy to do. Lowering herself to one knee,
she glanced back and forth as Ranma worked at the door.
More details presented themselves to her as her eyes adjusted to the gloomy
office; what had been little more than a black, fuzzy shape revealed itself
to be a teddy bear of some sort, placed carefully on one of the chairs in
the waiting area. A passing curiosity tugged at her mind, leading her to
wonder if the teddy bear belonged to the dentist, or if a child distracted
by the unpleasantries of waiting for a dental appointment had left a
treasured companion behind.
It has been a very long time since she had been to a dentist, or a doctor,
or school, or any kind of place a girl her age might have normally gone.
It was nice, in a way, to see a small part - even a part she dreaded - of
the life she had left behind.
She jumped, startled, as she felt a tug on her blouse. Turning, she saw
that Ranma was gesturing for her to follow once again. Glancing one final
time at the teddy bear, she followed Ranma through the door. Somehow, she
could feel the bear's small plastic eyes watching her as she left it
behind.
* * *
Ranma stepped carefully into what appeared to be a large, empty warehouse.
The carpet of the office had given way to cold, sterile concrete, revealing
the true appearance behind the facade. The room was largely empty, other
than a large hatch in the centre of the floor. Other than the front
office, it seemed the entire building was little more than a hollow shell.
She stepped toward the hatch, slowly but deliberately, the noise of Akane's
footfalls reassuring her that the Tendo girl was safely in tow. She made a
mental note to spend some time teaching Akane the finer points of moving
silently.
The hatch was solid metal, crafted out of what appeared to be iron. It was
large, easily large enough to fit a vehicle through. There were no
security cameras around, which suggested the lab was of little importance,
but from what she knew of the Phoenix, if something was sealed away behind
a barrier this imposing, it would be of considerable importance.
The hatch looked far too thick for her to pierce with Garyoutensei - she
stepped over the surface slowly, carefully looking for any sort of crack or
weak point that she could exploit, but could see only solid, unyielding
metal. That left only one option. She chewed her lip for a time, weighing
up the pros and cons; on one hand it would get them into the facility, but
on the other hand it would tell the Hunters exactly where they were.
"Akane," she whispered to the other girl, beckoning her. "Come here."
"What is it?" Akane whispered cautiously, peering around her as she spoke.
"If I open this door, the Hunters are going to know exactly where we are,
and they are going to come after us. We can go ahead anyway, or we can
turn around and leave right now. It's up to you."
Akane glanced back at Ranma with a puzzled look on her face; Ranma knew
exactly what was going through the young girl's mind as she looked down at
the hatch. Beneath it could be all the answers to her questions, or
perhaps nothing of any use. Either way, the Hunters would be hot on their
trail.
"I will protect you," Ranma added, sensing the Tendo's hesitation, "but I
can make no guarantees."
The safest option would be to run, hide. However, they couldn't do that
forever. Sooner or later, they had to start fighting back.
"Let's do it," Akane whispered, her tone firm. "We'll never know if we
don't try."
"Very well, if you're sure. After I open this door we have to move
quickly, we need to be long gone by the time any security arrives," Ranma
said. So much for the silent approach, she thought. It was time to make
some noise.
She stepped quietly to the opposite side of the hatch and knelt by the
small black pad that protruded from the hatch's frame. Her hand emerged
from the depths of her cloak and with a swift movement, she pressed her
index finger against the cool black plastic.
A loud hiss filled the air, and the hatch slowly slid aside to reveal a
ramp descending into the blackness below. One by one, rows of fluorescent
lights burst into life, each illuminating a small part of the passageway.
"Access granted," intoned a smooth female voice as the hatch locked into
its open position. "Please remember your laboratory clothing -
contamination will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Have a nice
day."
* * *
"Sir, I've found an anomalous Hidari access in the logs for facility 719."
"What do you mean, anomalous?"
"It was recorded after the lab was sealed for the night, sir."
"What's the entry timestamp?"
"Oh-thirty-seven, sir. Entered through the main hatch."
"You're right - that lab should be sealed until oh-six-hundred. What
credentials were supplied?"
"Hang on, sir, I'll just-- this can't be right. According to the logs,
there -aren't- any. It has to be a system malfunction. I'll check the
backup logs."
"No credentials? That's no malfunction."
"Sir?"
"Contact the Council on the emergency channel, tell them Prime has entered
facility 719 and request immediate instructions."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
"How on Earth did you unlock that door?" Akane demanded, no longer
bothering to keep quiet as she moved quickly to keep pace with Ranma.
"Most doors are coded to allow Hidari access. Since they are duplicates of
me, we share a few characteristics. Things like blood type, DNA," Ranma
explained, holding up her finger as she finished, "and fingerprints."
"That seems like a pretty big flaw in the system!" Akane blustered,
genuinely thunderstruck.
"They'll know something is up," Ranma explained. "We're not -exactly-
identical, but I'm certainly close enough to fool these scanners for now."
They drew near a door, sleek metal with glass panels - it slid open as
Ranma pressed her finger to the control pad, and closed itself with a solid
thunk behind them as they stepped through.
"So the very person this whole system is designed to keep out can just ...
waltz on in?" Akane asked, shaking her head in disbelief. "Technology is
wonderful."
"They've never had to worry about keeping me -out- before. Normally, they
try their hardest to get me -in- to a facility like this. They've been
trying to catch me and bring me in for a very long time - they'd never
expect me to be stupid enough to come barging into one of these places."
The lighting system caught up to the pair, multitudes of light fixtures
spaced around the laboratory bursting into bright luminance, covering the
entire area in a bright, surgical light. The room was circular, its
perimeter lined with rows of filing cabinets. Two concentric rings of
computers ran around the middle of the room, enclosing the central feature
of the laboratory - four glass tubes that ran from floor to ceiling, each
filled with water.
Akane stared at the tubes, her mouth open - for they held more than water.
Inside each one was a Hidari clone suspended in the liquid, seemingly
unconscious, each connected to a complicated tangle of tubing, the lower
halves of their faces obscured behind black oxygen masks.
"Ranma, look!" she exclaimed, nudging Ranma nervously. She had only ever
encountered one Hidari beforehand, and she had no desire to repeat the
experience. She took a step back and glanced toward the door.
"Don't panic," Ranma replied, grabbing Akane's shoulder. "They're not
dangerous - they're still being grown."
"Grown?" Akane asked, grimacing as she suppressed an involuntary shudder.
"Yeah. They grow 'em in these tubes, then brand 'em," Ranma replied,
pointing to the small barcode that was tattooed down the centre of the
nearest Hidari's chest. "Each one has a code that identifies when it was
made, and where. These guys have been given their codes, so they aren't
far from being finished, but they won't be bothering us tonight."
"That's hideous," Akane said with a shiver, a feeling of genuine nausea
gripping her for a moment. The very thought of being cloned chilled her to
the core. The thought of meeting another being with her face, her body,
was one she could not bear to think about. "How can you be so calm about
this?"
"You get used to it," Ranma replied with a shrug. "Sure, the first time I
ran into one of them I nearly had a heart attack. It's pretty surreal to
talk to yourself, and fight yourself, but after a dozen or so times, even
that becomes routine."
"Gods," Akane whispered, staring at the hollow, lifeless eyes of the
clones. They stared back, the empty stares of their pale blue irises
seeming menacing even in their torpor. It was truly bizarre to see such
malevolence in eyes that were Ranma's; eyes that had only ever looked at
her with compassion and concern. She shuddered again, wondering how Ranma
could possibly cope with seeing those eyes.
"Come on," Ranma urged, tugging Akane along with her. "You can't stare all
day. We're in a hurry, remember?"
"Right, right," Akane replied, tearing her eyes from the clones. Even when
she looked away, she could feel their stares upon her, their eyes following
her, haunting her, as she moved through the lab. Even if they did not have
to leave, she did not want to stay in this place. Just as she could feel
the warmth of life in the city above, she could feel the vacant, hollow
emptiness that emanated from the centre of the room.
"Do you know how to work these things?" Ranma asked, gesturing to the first
row of computers.
"What? No... not really," Akane replied, forcing herself to concentrate.
She'd used them a little in school, but she hardly considered herself an
expert.
"Me either," Ranma replied, stroking her chin. She turned to the lab's
outer wall and inspected the nearest filing cabinet. "We'll just have to
see what they've got on paper."
Releasing Akane, she threw a swift punch at the cabinet, cracking the case
and causing the drawer to slide out, rattling loudly as it scraped along
the bent metal frame. "Fortunately, I know how -these- things work."
Akane stared as Ranma rifled through the stacks of paper held inside the
drawer, baffled at the speed with which the redhead's fingers moved - they
were little more than a blur darting through the papers. She knew Ranma
was fast, but she had never seen anything that fast before.
"Don't just stand there," Ranma chastised, not looking up from her task.
"Get searching."
"Okay," Akane replied, moving to the nearest cabinet. She punched it just
as Ranma had done and pulled out the top drawer. Reaching inside, she held
up the first folder, looked at it for a moment, and turned to Ranma. "What
am I looking for?"
"I don't know," Ranma admitted with a shrug, flipping through folder after
folder. "Anything that looks like it might be related to us."
"That could be anything," Akane observed as she flicked through the
contents of the first folder. Her eyes widened as she realised what the
folder contained. "'Effects of chemical nerve agent 329-B on human
subjects'? This is ..."
"It's irrelevant," Ranma replied dismissively. "Toss it and keep looking."
"Irrelevant?" Akane asked, taken aback. "How can you not care about this?
They're testing this stuff on people and you don't care?!"
"It doesn't matter," Ranma replied, an edge of irritation in her voice.
"We don't have time to look through everything. Toss it and find something
useful."
"This is horrible," Akane said, dropping the folder in disgust. What kind
of organisation was this Phoenix? Cloning, weapons research, chemical
weapons testing? What monstrous entity would dabble in such things?
Thumbing quickly to the next folder, she lifted it and began reading, eager
to put the first out of her mind.
* * *
Ranma frowned as she smashed open yet another filing cabinet. Their search
had so far been fruitless, and they had spent far longer in the lab than
she had anticipated. She was determined to find something, anything, to
make the trip worthwhile.
Weapons research reports, experimental analyses, even financial reports,
she tore through one after another after another, growing increasingly
angry at the documents' complete lack of relevance. There had to be
-something- good amongst all this junk.
Wait a minute, she thought as she lifted a small brown folder. This looks
interesting. 'Dragon/Human Hybrid Interaction Analysis'.
Opening the folder, she flicked through the pages, skimming over each one.
The report seemed to detail the effects of integrating a dragon with a
human - the effects of which she knew well enough herself, without having
to read a report. What captured her interest was the final page.
A series of names was listed on the page, each matched to a percentage
figure, which was identified as "measured compatibility".
"Hitomi, Asumi, Ai, Nabiki, Kaori, Ichiko, Eiko," she read, running her
finger slowly down the list. She fell into silence after a time, reading
each name to herself, until she drew to the final name on the list. "And
... Kayoko."
"What's this?" Akane asked, her attention piqued by Ranma's voice. "What's
that folder?"
"It's your family history," Ranma replied, still reading. "Hitomi, your
mother. Asumi, her mother. This list goes all the way back to Kayoko. I
had no idea they'd been following the entire line ..."
"Mother?" Akane asked, peering over Ranma's shoulder. She examined the
page, her curiosity running rampant. This was the first solid information
she had ever found regarding her mother. "What do these percentages
mean?"
"I don't know," admitted Ranma. They seemed to follow a pattern, with
Hitomi being rated at 99.3%, Asumi at 92.0%, Ai at 84.6%, and so on,
decreasing with each name until Kamiko, the child of Kayoko's sister, who
was rated at a mere 0.4%. The only strange figure was that beside Kayoko's
name - she was rated at 100.0%. "It's some sort of compatibility rating,
but compatibility with what, I don't know."
"Does it say anything else?"
"'Measured compatibility indices show a clear upward trend, but further
analysis is required at the MPC before any concrete conclusions can be
drawn from the data. Post-mortem cellular decay necessitates the location
of a live sample for experimentation,'" Ranma read from a small paragraph
at the foot of the page. "'Only living tissue will provide a truly
accurate measurement.'"
"I ... don't like the sound of that," Akane said, bristling. "That's all
there is? It doesn't explain any of that at all?"
"Yeah," Ranma replied. "The rest just talks about the effects of being
part-dragon, and I'm sure you're familiar with those already."
"Let me see," Akane insisted, tugging at the folder. "I want to see."
"Later," Ranma replied firmly, closing the folder. "While we're in here we
keep looking for more documents. We can read them later."
"But ...."
"No buts, Akane. This isn't the time."
"All right," Akane replied with a sigh, her face thoughtful. She would
look at the report for herself later on. Its existence in the lab fuelled
her hopes that she would find more information related to herself or her
mother. The more information she could find, the better.
"Get moving," Ranma insisted, nudging Akane toward the remaining cabinets.
"We've got to get out of here soon."
* * *
"Come on, Akane," Ranma insisted, stepping over toward the Tendo girl, who
was still bent over one of the cabinets, her head buried in the drawer.
"Okay, okay," Akane replied, her voice muffled by the wads of paper
surrounding her head. "I'm nearly done."
"We have to get moving. We've been here far too long."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Akane replied, digging deeper into the drawer.
She knew there was something hidden at the bottom of the drawer. There had
to be; she had found nothing else. She couldn't leave without finding it.
A loud 'whump' sound ceased her searches, however; the room was suddenly
plunged into darkness as the electricity cut out, the incessant whirring of
the computers disappearing into an eerie silence. Standing, she withdrew
her head from the drawer and looked around, unsure what to make of the
situation.
"What the hell--" Ranma began, her words cut off as a loud alarm sounded,
making both herself and Akane jump. The loud klaxon wail filled the air as
a series of red lights began to flash around the circumference of the room.
Before either of them could move, a solid iron barrier slid into place
over the exit.
"Oh, no," Ranma said, her voice carrying the weight of impending doom.
"Oh ... no."
"We're trapped!" Akane exclaimed, rushing over in the dim red light to the
metal seal that blocked the door. She banged her fists on it but to no
avail, it was solid, impenetrable. "What do we do now?"
A loud gurgling sound filled the air, making its presence known even over
the din of the klaxons. Ranma and Akane turned simultaneously to the centre
of the room, where the glass tubes were slowly emptying of water. Akane
swallowed, terror gripping her heart as she realised what was to come.
A series of loud pops and hisses rang through the room as the multitudes of
pipes and tubes connected to the four Hidari snapped loose, the tangled
webs of plastic falling away in mere moments. Freed from their restraints,
the four Hidari straightened, each turning to face Akane, their movements
perfectly synchronised.
"Stay behind me, Akane," Ranma instructed, stepping in front of the girl.
Garyoutensei appeared in her hand, illuminating the room with its pale
white glow. "I'll keep you safe."
Slowly, the glass tubes began to raise, opening a gap at their bases that
widened as the tubes slid away into the ceiling. Steam billowed out from
beneath the glass, filling the room with moisture as the seal between the
tubes and the floor was broken.
One by one, the Hidari blinked, their pupils shrinking as they focused
their eyes upon Akane. As one they stepped down to the floor, each staring
dispassionately at its target. Akane swallowed, fighting off a sudden
feeling of revulsion.
The Hidari carried a palpable sense of a void, of emptiness and darkness
within them. She had not sensed it before but it screamed at her now,
threatening to overwhelm her with its sheer strength and potency. They
radiated fear, terror that clawed at her with a chilling touch. Now she
could see these creatures for what they truly were.
"You'll never get her, you bastards," Ranma growled, raising her blade.
The air around it crackled with energy as she brought the sword forward,
its white light pushing back the ethereal gloom the Hidari carried with
them. Akane felt her hand drawn slowly toward Shoryoutensei, moving almost
of its own will to fulfil a yearning need to raise her sword alongside
Ranma's.
She could not let Ranma fight this battle alone. Not again. Not against
these ... things. Slowly, her fingers closed around the handle and pulled
it from its scabbard. For the first time, Akane Tendo prepared to join the
fight for her life.
= = = =
T E N
= = = =
T E N
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By R. E.
(ranma_e@hotmail.com)
Illustrations by Irka
(irka@ciudad.com.ar)
= = = =
CHAPTER TEN
"My Sweet Halcyon's Fall"
= = = = = = = =
Ranma sat perched upon a small boulder, plucking daisy after daisy from
the grassy verge that ran alongside the stream. She idly tore the petals
from the flower she held, as she had from a dozen before it, barely paying
any attention to what she was doing. The frozen petal fell from her
fingers, falling heavily to the ground and shattering like glass, its
shards joining a growing pile at the base of the boulder.
"We're wasting time," she commented sourly, crushing the stamen. "We'd be
there by now if you didn't insist on wasting time every day. What are you
doing, anyway?"
Akane ignored Ranma's question, but the frown upon her face deepened with
every flower the redhead tore from the ground. She did not respond,
however, choosing to remain still and silent, crouched over the softly
flowing waters of the stream.
Ranma sighed irritably and crumpled yet another daisy in her hands. Akane
was growing increasingly recalcitrant, a trait which had begun to wear thin
Ranma's patience. In the half-year since her awakening under Happosai's
guidance, it seemed that Akane had become acutely aware of her innate
abilities. Despite Ranma's nearly nine-hundred years of experience in the
area, the Tendo girl seemed increasingly unwilling to accept any sort of
advice or instruction.
The evergrowing confidence her student displayed worried her, not least
because the six months Akane had spent experiencing the life of a dragon
had remained oddly uninterrupted by the Hunters. Surviving in the real
world - on the run from real enemies - was an essential skill that Ranma
had learned only through painful experience. Akane could not hope to
comprehend it, no matter how much the dragonling might have believed she
could.
Akane's face was obscured by her hair, the once-black strands having
adopted a striking blue pattern as they had grown. Akane's hair had grown
long since her awakening, and now extended down slightly below her
shoulders. She usually kept it fastened in a loose ponytail, but insisted
upon letting it dangle loose every morning as she performed her ritual.
It was yet another of her habits that Ranma did not understand.
A vague outline of Akane's face was visible through the hair, and for a
time Ranma watched her lips move, trying to discern exactly what she was
saying. As she had many times before, Ranma eventually abandoned her
efforts and returned her attention to their surroundings.
The lack of enemy attacks had allowed her to lower her guard ever so
slightly, and she chastised herself for doing so. She knew better than to
hope the attacks would stop; a respite, even a six-month respite, was
nothing to celebrate. It was a curiosity, that was for sure, but not
something that should be taken for granted. She pondered the
possibilities, the reasons and the explanations for the lack of attacks
each night as she watched Akane sleep, but she had been unable to come up
with any concrete answers.
This fact troubled her greatly. She was used to having some sort of idea,
however vague, of what the Hunters were planning. A pause of this duration
was unprecedented. By her reckoning, Ukyo would not bother either of them
again for twenty years - perhaps longer - but the Hunters were long
overdue. The only possibility she could think of was that the enemy knew
something she did not; this did nothing to ease her concerns.
It was such worries that had led her to, two months prior, begin searching
the Phoenix installations she knew of for information. Over the years she
had managed to glean information regarding the locations of several Phoenix
facilities. She did not know much about them - most of her time was spent
avoiding the Hunters, not trying to find them - but it was a start.
Together, she and Akane had infiltrated three such installations - two
server facilities and a data processing centre. Their visits had gone well
- covertly enter at night, recover whatever information was available, and
leave before anyone noticed they were there. It had worked well so far,
but had not produced any worthwhile results. Phoenix was, apparently, a
very large organisation, and stored a vast amount of data. Little of it
was of any use to her.
Still, perseverance was the key. Their next target was a research
facility hidden in the middle of Osaka. She did not like entering such a
densely populated area, but such risks had to be taken. The research
facility was nearby - if they weren't running behind schedule, they would
have already been in and out.
"How much longer are you going to sit there?" Ranma asked, her thoughts
leading her back to her irritation. Again, she was ignored. She grated
her teeth; this was starting to get very annoying.
Akane slowly lowered her hands to the surface of the water and waved her
fingers back and forth as she swept them along with the current, mimicking
the motions of the tiny waves. The water curled with her fingers, thin
tendrils of liquid curling over her skin as she stroked the surface. Their
movement was not sinister; more than anything else, it seemed as though the
water was reciprocating her embrace.
It was a habit that Ranma had witnessed on many occasions. She had long
since given up on trying to understand it, but took comfort in the fact
that it was usually performed near the end of Akane's daily ritual, so at
least the pair would be on their way again soon.
In a way, she supposed, it meant that Akane was receptive to her draconic
heritage. Certainly, Ryujin's affinity for water was shining through; six
months ago Akane was frightened to go near water, now, she embraced it
every morning. Acceptance of the dragon was an important step, and it was
good that Akane was so willing to accept her true nature.
If only I could do something about her damned impudence, Ranma thought with
a sigh.
* * *
"I like your taste in clothes, but I really don't see how this get-up is a
good disguise," Akane said, walking behind Ranma down a busy street. She
fidgeted irritably with the outfit she had been forced to wear.
The platform boots were clunky and unwieldy beneath feet that were used to
being bare, the tight skirt and blouse both revealing and chilly compared
to her gi. The boots had taken some getting used to, and even after
walking quite some distance in them she still found herself wobbling with
each step, unused to the extra height they afforded her.
"You blend in well," Ranma replied, glancing up at the now much taller
Akane. She pulled her cloak, which now resembled an ordinary black
trench coat, tightly around herself. "You look quite the local girl."
"I guess so. I've never really visited anywhere in Kansai before," Akane
commented, letting her attention turn to the city around them. Cars
jostled for position as they crawled endlessly down the road, which was
adorned on both sides by an endless parade of pedestrians. "This place is
so full of people. It's wonderful. Reminds me of home."
"Crowded with people, cars, and pollution. I don't see what's so great
about it," Ranma replied, walking slowly down the centre of the pavement.
The crowds of oncoming people parted to either side of her as she walked,
her eyes shifting warily back and forth amongst them as they passed.
"All those people," Akane said, her voice rising with her enthusiasm. She
smiled as a group of boys made their way past her, her eyes lingering upon
their faces. Each of the boys returned her smile with wondrous looks in
their eyes, one of them managing a wave, which was returned by Akane.
"It's teeming with life. It feels -alive- here."
"You say that as if it's a good thing," Ranma replied, her eyes watching
every face as it passed her by, checking each for any sign of recognition,
of panic or alarm. She spared a glance behind herself, frowned, and
snatched Akane's hand mid-wave. "These humans just get in the way."
"They look scared of you," Akane observed, glancing over Ranma's shoulder.
The multitude of faces carried worried glances, the expressions of people
who felt intimidated. Each person was the same; they would glance at Ranma
and quickly shuffle aside to let the girl past. Ranma seemed to cut a
swath through the crowds, parting the sea of people long enough to pass
through. Glancing behind herself, Akane noticed the gap closed behind them
as the people on either side of the pair came together once more.
"That's because they are," Ranma said, her voice low. She turned and
whispered, "They may not know it in their minds but in their hearts they
know what I am. Humans fear death - it's just their instinct. Even so,
they all come to me in the end."
Akane opened her mouth to reply but was distracted by the feeling of a hand
brushing across the swell of her hip as it passed her by. Her head whirled
to the left as she felt the warmth of the hand soak into her skin;
ordinarily she would have felt angry at some pervert trying to grab her,
but the wonderful heat came as such a surprise she could do little but
stare after the man as he disappeared into the throng.
Ever since she had entered the city she had felt an everpresent warmth upon
the air, a distinct sense that the area was brimming with life - but it
paled into comparison with the intensity of the feeling a simple touch from
a person had created in her. She lowered her hand and pressed it gently to
her hip, holding it to the fabric of her skirt as she savoured the
lingering warmth of the contact.
What on Earth was that?
"Akane, come on. We're nearly there."
Her thought pattern broken, she turned to Ranma, who had stopped and was
waiting for her, a nonplussed expression on her face. If something had
happened, apparently Ranma had not noticed it. With a final, thoughtful
glance behind her, she resumed walking.
* * *
"That's it?"
"Yeah," Ranma replied with a nod. The building was unobtrusive; a small,
three-storey building block that blended in with every other building along
the street. It did not stand out in any way - and that was the way it was
designed.
"You're telling me it's in a dentist's office?" Akane asked, a skeptical
tone to her voice. She craned her head, peering over the stacked-up boxes
that concealed her from the street. From the alleyway in which they had
sought refuge, she could see little of the building's interior.
"No, there is no dentist and there is no office. From what I could tell
the last time I was here, the building is basically empty inside. It's
just an entrance."
"Okay, so, let's go," Akane suggested, taking a step toward the building.
She stopped in her tracks as Ranma grabbed her by the hair and tugged her
backwards. "Ow!"
"Not so fast," Ranma chided. "Don't be so eager. We're going to stay here
and wait for a while."
"For what? That lab isn't going to infiltrate itself, you know," Akane
countered sarcastically, straightening her hair.
"Two things," Ranma said with a sigh. She was beginning to become tired of
Akane's constant challenges to her decisions. "Firstly, it'll be easier to
get inside unnoticed if we wait until nightfall. Secondly, it'll give me a
chance to see if anyone is watching the building from the outside."
"It doesn't look so dangerous to me," Akane said, rolling her eyes.
"You're way too paranoid about this whole thing."
"I have reason to be," Ranma replied irritably. "This is a research lab.
That's higher on the tree than some backup server facility in the middle of
nowhere. Chances are, this place is being watched very carefully, and we
do NOT want to be seen."
"Oh, fine," Akane replied. She slumped against the alley wall and slid
downwards into a sitting position, her knees tucked up against her chest.
"Okay, we'll wait for nightfall."
"Thank you," Ranma said sarcastically, sending a caustic glance Akane's
way. Why did she accept such disrespect from Akane? Kayoko would never
have tolerated it from her. The student should respect the master. That
was the very first lesson she had learned. Akane was just being childish.
The conversation lapsed into silence as Ranma surveyed the building,
watching carefully every person who passed by. There were no signs she
could see that anyone was watching from the street, and she could not see
any faces behind the windows of the other buildings along the street.
At first glance, things looked good for a covert entry.
"Ranma?"
"What?" Ranma replied, not moving. An old man with a collection of grocery
bags stopped outside the building, placing them upon the ground. He
glanced left and right as he stood for a moment, seemingly catching his
breath, before lifting the bags and continuing on his way. Ranma eyed him
suspiciously, examining his facial expression. He seemed innocuous
enough, but she could never be sure ...
"I was looking for Ukyo."
"Huh?" Ranma asked, her train of thought derailed by the mention of that
name. "You were what?"
"You asked what I was doing this morning. I was looking for Ukyo."
"Why?" Ranma inquired, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the prickling
sensation that ran across the back of her neck. The subject of Ukyo Kuonji
was one that she had been careful to avoid ever since the incident.
She had first mentioned her fight with Ukyo, and the result of that fight,
nearly a month after the fact. Akane had seemed strangely calm and
accepting of it as she was told, but after that conversation the young girl
lapsed into a silence that lasted for nearly two weeks. Ranma worried, of
course, unsure of what to say or do. The resulting decision was always
"nothing", leaving silence between them for fourteen days and thirteen
nights.
When Akane finally spoke again, she talked of the beautiful sunset of that
day, all traces of her curiosity regarding Ukyo seemingly banished from her
mind. Ranma had wondered about it, but did not desire to discuss the
matter further, knowing it would only complicate things. She felt better
for having told her young charge the truth, and things seemed to be back to
normal.
Things were not back to normal, however; Akane began to shrink into
herself, the conversations they had once shared becoming more and more
scarce, the smiles that had once illuminated her face became rarer and
rarer until they seemed to disappear entirely. She began her ritual,
kneeling each morning over a body of water, whether it be a river, a pond,
or even a muddy puddle in the middle of a field. These moments, when she
was alone with the water, were the times in which she still smiled.
"I wanted to apologise to her," Akane explained, pressing her thumbs
against each other as she sat in the murky alleyway. She glanced up at
Ranma, a wistful expression on her face. "I wanted to let her know I'm
sorry she's dead."
"It doesn't matter," Ranma replied with a snort. "She's better off dead
than alive. Death is a kindness to a girl like her."
"It -does- matter, Ranma," Akane countered, a sharp edge coming to her
voice. It was not an angry tone, more of an expression of frustration.
"She's dead. I'm going to find her, and I'm going to apologise."
"If it makes you feel any better," Ranma conceded with a sigh. She did not
approve of the idea, but in her experience she had learned that Akane was
not one to back down on such things. On some issues she just had to
compromise.
"Ever since Happosai showed me," Akane continued, using her own euphemism
for the awakening, "I've heard voices. Not loud voices, just ... they're
like someone whispering to me. I thought I was going crazy, but eventually
I figured out that they were coming from the water. I tried ignoring them
for a while, but it just didn't work. Eventually, I thought - what if I
talk back? What happens then?"
Ranma said nothing, but moved away from the alley's end toward the Tendo
girl, a curious look upon her face. It was clear to her that Akane had not
been forthcoming at all when it came to her experiences. She wondered for
a moment just what Akane knew.
"I still don't understand what they're saying," Akane continued. "It's as
if they're all trying to speak at once. I know they can understand me -
when I ask them to do something for me, they listen."
"The water listens?"
"The people inside the water," Akane said, a small smile passing briefly
across her face. "I guess it sounds stupid, but I can hear them, and I
know they can hear me. I think they're glad to see me."
Ranma peered at Akane curiously, sitting down on the opposite side of the
alleyway. Pulling her feet in under herself, she looked across at Akane.
"You know more than I thought you did. Water holds the essence of the
living until it can find a body to live within. Once the body dies, the
life force returns to the waters to be born again."
Akane nodded and tilted her head downwards, staring into her own lap. The
faint edges of a smile were visible, and Ranma knew that what she was
saying made sense to her companion.
"So you want to find Ukyo beneath the surface and speak to her?"
"Yeah," Akane replied, her cheeks flushing. "I know you think it's stupid.
I don't expect you to understand why. You wear death like that cloak - I
know Ukyo is just another corpse to you."
"You're right, I don't understand. I'm not going to stop you, but I don't
think you'll have any luck."
"Why?"
"If you spill a drop of water into the ocean, you can't ever get that drop
back again. It becomes part of the whole, it loses its individuality and
is no longer a drop of water, but a part of the ocean."
"She was a person, she was more than just a drop of water!" Akane insisted.
"Was she?" Ranma asked, fixing her student with a piercing stare.
Akane sighed and rubbed her feet back and forth along the rough gravel that
lined the alley. "I thought ... I thought maybe I could find my mother,
too."
"Your mother isn't in the water. She died the death of a dragon."
"What does -that- mean?" Akane asked, curling her toes - out of dread or
morbid anticipation, Ranma could not tell.
"Dragons aren't borne of the waters, so they do not return to them. When
she died, her essence passed to you. There's no need to search for her -
she's already a part of you. Just as my father is a part of me."
"Then why can't I feel her? Why isn't she there?" Akane asked, desperation
in her voice. "Why won't she talk to me?"
"She is there, believe me," Ranma replied, offering a comforting smile.
"Perhaps she'll make herself known when she's ready."
"Does your father ...?"
"Sometimes," Ranma replied, leaning back against the alley wall. She
glanced upwards, at the azure sky that peeked through the gaps between
buildings. A wry smile crept across her features. "Usually just to remind
me that I'm being lazy, or that I did something wrong, or that I've
forgotten one of his lessons. I haven't heard from him for a while, but I
know he's there, watching over me."
"He must love you, to watch over you for eight hundred years," Akane
observed.
"I guess," Ranma replied with a shrug. "I don't know. Maybe he's got no
choice. Why would he love the Lord of Death?"
With a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head, Akane let silence fall
into the gap between them. Ranma watched her closely as she rested against
the wall, eyes tracking every tiny movement, from the rise and fall of her
chest to the occasional twitch of her fingers.
"What are you looking at?" Akane asked after a time, shifting uncomfortably
as she spoke.
"You," Ranma replied bluntly. "Is it a problem?"
"No, I guess," Akane replied, turning herself away slightly. "It's just
kinda weird. I'm not used to people looking at me like that."
"It's my duty to watch you. I would have thought you'd be used to it by
now."
"That's not what I mean and you know it," Akane grumbled, folding her knees
tightly up against her chest.
"No, I don't know," Ranma admitted with a shrug.
"Oh, nevermind," Akane said with a sigh. Lowering her chin to her knees,
she glanced up toward the sky, sighing once more as she noticed it was
still a bright shade of blue. "This lab better have something useful
inside."
* * *
"Keep quiet," Ranma instructed, an arm across Akane's chest to hold her
back against the wall. She glanced left and right, her eyes seeking out
any sort of movement. The streets were illuminated by a multitude of
sodium lights, each with its own distinctive flicker that combined together
to light the street with a dull glow.
Occasionally a car would speed by, the noise of its engine echoing through
the quiet that covered the neighbourhood. This was a market area, and not
many people lived nearby, so the night provided just the sort of
environment suited to an infiltration.
Keeping Akane beside her, Ranma edged her way along the wall toward the
door, taking great care to remain hidden amongst the shadows. She would
much rather have left Akane outside, but the Tendo girl had seemingly
infinite curiosity and refused to be left out of anything that might relate
to her. Even if that were not the case, the thought of leaving Akane alone
at night on a city street was not one to be taken seriously.
"Fingerprint access," Ranma whispered to Akane as she inspected the front
door's locking mechanism. A small, elegant black pad protruded from the
door frame in place of a traditional lock. "Rather elaborate for a
dentist. You'd think they'd be more discreet."
"Don't you think going in through the front door is a bit dangerous?" Akane
asked, peering over Ranma's shoulder at the door in question. "I mean,
won't they be expecting that?"
"Would you expect your enemy to come marching in through your front door?
Or would you expect them to try something sneaky?"
"Sneaky, I guess," Akane admitted with a shrug.
"Exactly," Ranma replied. "They expect their building to be entered from
the rear, or through a window. So we do the opposite of what they expect."
"You've done this before, haven't you," Akane inquired, her curious gaze
going unnoticed in the dark. Ranma's tone was one of enjoyment and
mischief, a curious sound that Akane had never really heard before.
"Believe it or not, one of your ancestors was a master thief. She could
empty your pockets and be long gone before you could blink. There wasn't a
lock built that could keep her out for long. I learned a lot from her,"
Ranma replied as she silently withdrew Garyoutensei from the depths of her
cloak. She turned and smiled at the puzzled expression that crossed
Akane's face. "I'll tell you all about her some other time."
"Please do," Akane replied, watching closely as Ranma pressed the tip of
Garyoutensei to the small gap between door and door frame and began sliding
it downwards. A thief? In her family? She'd always assumed that she came
from a long line of martial artists. How could she be descended from a
thief?
"The thing about locks," Ranma explained in a hushed voice, interrupting
Akane's thoughts, "is that no matter how strong or secure, there's always a
weak point."
Akane nodded absentmindedly, not really taking in the meaning of the words,
but not wanting to appear inattentive. She focused herself on what Ranma
was doing - the tip of Garyoutensei slid slowly down through the gap,
hissing as it made contact with the metal cylinders that held the door
closed.
"All you have to do is find it and you're in," Ranma finished, a satisfied
smile on her face as the metal, solid though it may have been, quickly gave
way to the intense heat Garyoutensei brought to bear upon it. "The trick
is knowing how to find the weak point quickly."
"Just like that," Akane commented, the ambivalence in her voice obvious
even to herself. Was she supposed to be impressed by such a dishonourable
act?
"Just like that," Ranma agreed, sheathing her sword once more. She held
the door closed with one hand and turned to Akane. "From here on in, we
have to be very quiet. Just stay near to me, and don't do anything unless
I do it first. Okay?"
"Okay," Akane said, nodding her assent, all the while trying to ignore the
moisture that was developing in the palms of her hands. For just a moment
she wondered why nervousness had only reared its ugly head at that instant,
but quickly pushed that thought to one side as Ranma silently opened the
door.
"Let's go."
* * *
Akane crept quietly after Ranma through the interior of the building, which
looked for all intents and purposes exactly as she imagined a dentist's
office should. A large waiting area dominated the room, the perimeter
lined with a series of chairs, each side allocated a small glass table with
what appeared to be magazines stacked atop each one.
She could not make out the exact magazines in the darkness, nor did she
have the inclination to do so; Ranma's example was a demanding one to
follow.
She crept as quietly as she could, but compared to Ranma's effortless glide
across the floor, her own steps seemed awkward and clumsy. She wondered
why she hadn't thought to take off the large, clunky boots she had been
given. Ranma moved slowly - a blessing for Akane, who would have struggled
to keep up a faster pace and still be quiet - as she examined the room,
carefully scanning every area for cameras, or other types of sensors,
before each step.
They inched their way around the room, slowly but deliberately making their
way toward a small door behind what appeared to be a receptionist's desk.
It was the only door besides the entrance, leaving them few options.
As they drew near the door, Ranma held up one hand in a "stop" gesture,
something Akane was only too happy to do. Lowering herself to one knee,
she glanced back and forth as Ranma worked at the door.
More details presented themselves to her as her eyes adjusted to the gloomy
office; what had been little more than a black, fuzzy shape revealed itself
to be a teddy bear of some sort, placed carefully on one of the chairs in
the waiting area. A passing curiosity tugged at her mind, leading her to
wonder if the teddy bear belonged to the dentist, or if a child distracted
by the unpleasantries of waiting for a dental appointment had left a
treasured companion behind.
It has been a very long time since she had been to a dentist, or a doctor,
or school, or any kind of place a girl her age might have normally gone.
It was nice, in a way, to see a small part - even a part she dreaded - of
the life she had left behind.
She jumped, startled, as she felt a tug on her blouse. Turning, she saw
that Ranma was gesturing for her to follow once again. Glancing one final
time at the teddy bear, she followed Ranma through the door. Somehow, she
could feel the bear's small plastic eyes watching her as she left it
behind.
* * *
Ranma stepped carefully into what appeared to be a large, empty warehouse.
The carpet of the office had given way to cold, sterile concrete, revealing
the true appearance behind the facade. The room was largely empty, other
than a large hatch in the centre of the floor. Other than the front
office, it seemed the entire building was little more than a hollow shell.
She stepped toward the hatch, slowly but deliberately, the noise of Akane's
footfalls reassuring her that the Tendo girl was safely in tow. She made a
mental note to spend some time teaching Akane the finer points of moving
silently.
The hatch was solid metal, crafted out of what appeared to be iron. It was
large, easily large enough to fit a vehicle through. There were no
security cameras around, which suggested the lab was of little importance,
but from what she knew of the Phoenix, if something was sealed away behind
a barrier this imposing, it would be of considerable importance.
The hatch looked far too thick for her to pierce with Garyoutensei - she
stepped over the surface slowly, carefully looking for any sort of crack or
weak point that she could exploit, but could see only solid, unyielding
metal. That left only one option. She chewed her lip for a time, weighing
up the pros and cons; on one hand it would get them into the facility, but
on the other hand it would tell the Hunters exactly where they were.
"Akane," she whispered to the other girl, beckoning her. "Come here."
"What is it?" Akane whispered cautiously, peering around her as she spoke.
"If I open this door, the Hunters are going to know exactly where we are,
and they are going to come after us. We can go ahead anyway, or we can
turn around and leave right now. It's up to you."
Akane glanced back at Ranma with a puzzled look on her face; Ranma knew
exactly what was going through the young girl's mind as she looked down at
the hatch. Beneath it could be all the answers to her questions, or
perhaps nothing of any use. Either way, the Hunters would be hot on their
trail.
"I will protect you," Ranma added, sensing the Tendo's hesitation, "but I
can make no guarantees."
The safest option would be to run, hide. However, they couldn't do that
forever. Sooner or later, they had to start fighting back.
"Let's do it," Akane whispered, her tone firm. "We'll never know if we
don't try."
"Very well, if you're sure. After I open this door we have to move
quickly, we need to be long gone by the time any security arrives," Ranma
said. So much for the silent approach, she thought. It was time to make
some noise.
She stepped quietly to the opposite side of the hatch and knelt by the
small black pad that protruded from the hatch's frame. Her hand emerged
from the depths of her cloak and with a swift movement, she pressed her
index finger against the cool black plastic.
A loud hiss filled the air, and the hatch slowly slid aside to reveal a
ramp descending into the blackness below. One by one, rows of fluorescent
lights burst into life, each illuminating a small part of the passageway.
"Access granted," intoned a smooth female voice as the hatch locked into
its open position. "Please remember your laboratory clothing -
contamination will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Have a nice
day."
* * *
"Sir, I've found an anomalous Hidari access in the logs for facility 719."
"What do you mean, anomalous?"
"It was recorded after the lab was sealed for the night, sir."
"What's the entry timestamp?"
"Oh-thirty-seven, sir. Entered through the main hatch."
"You're right - that lab should be sealed until oh-six-hundred. What
credentials were supplied?"
"Hang on, sir, I'll just-- this can't be right. According to the logs,
there -aren't- any. It has to be a system malfunction. I'll check the
backup logs."
"No credentials? That's no malfunction."
"Sir?"
"Contact the Council on the emergency channel, tell them Prime has entered
facility 719 and request immediate instructions."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
"How on Earth did you unlock that door?" Akane demanded, no longer
bothering to keep quiet as she moved quickly to keep pace with Ranma.
"Most doors are coded to allow Hidari access. Since they are duplicates of
me, we share a few characteristics. Things like blood type, DNA," Ranma
explained, holding up her finger as she finished, "and fingerprints."
"That seems like a pretty big flaw in the system!" Akane blustered,
genuinely thunderstruck.
"They'll know something is up," Ranma explained. "We're not -exactly-
identical, but I'm certainly close enough to fool these scanners for now."
They drew near a door, sleek metal with glass panels - it slid open as
Ranma pressed her finger to the control pad, and closed itself with a solid
thunk behind them as they stepped through.
"So the very person this whole system is designed to keep out can just ...
waltz on in?" Akane asked, shaking her head in disbelief. "Technology is
wonderful."
"They've never had to worry about keeping me -out- before. Normally, they
try their hardest to get me -in- to a facility like this. They've been
trying to catch me and bring me in for a very long time - they'd never
expect me to be stupid enough to come barging into one of these places."
The lighting system caught up to the pair, multitudes of light fixtures
spaced around the laboratory bursting into bright luminance, covering the
entire area in a bright, surgical light. The room was circular, its
perimeter lined with rows of filing cabinets. Two concentric rings of
computers ran around the middle of the room, enclosing the central feature
of the laboratory - four glass tubes that ran from floor to ceiling, each
filled with water.
Akane stared at the tubes, her mouth open - for they held more than water.
Inside each one was a Hidari clone suspended in the liquid, seemingly
unconscious, each connected to a complicated tangle of tubing, the lower
halves of their faces obscured behind black oxygen masks.
"Ranma, look!" she exclaimed, nudging Ranma nervously. She had only ever
encountered one Hidari beforehand, and she had no desire to repeat the
experience. She took a step back and glanced toward the door.
"Don't panic," Ranma replied, grabbing Akane's shoulder. "They're not
dangerous - they're still being grown."
"Grown?" Akane asked, grimacing as she suppressed an involuntary shudder.
"Yeah. They grow 'em in these tubes, then brand 'em," Ranma replied,
pointing to the small barcode that was tattooed down the centre of the
nearest Hidari's chest. "Each one has a code that identifies when it was
made, and where. These guys have been given their codes, so they aren't
far from being finished, but they won't be bothering us tonight."
"That's hideous," Akane said with a shiver, a feeling of genuine nausea
gripping her for a moment. The very thought of being cloned chilled her to
the core. The thought of meeting another being with her face, her body,
was one she could not bear to think about. "How can you be so calm about
this?"
"You get used to it," Ranma replied with a shrug. "Sure, the first time I
ran into one of them I nearly had a heart attack. It's pretty surreal to
talk to yourself, and fight yourself, but after a dozen or so times, even
that becomes routine."
"Gods," Akane whispered, staring at the hollow, lifeless eyes of the
clones. They stared back, the empty stares of their pale blue irises
seeming menacing even in their torpor. It was truly bizarre to see such
malevolence in eyes that were Ranma's; eyes that had only ever looked at
her with compassion and concern. She shuddered again, wondering how Ranma
could possibly cope with seeing those eyes.
"Come on," Ranma urged, tugging Akane along with her. "You can't stare all
day. We're in a hurry, remember?"
"Right, right," Akane replied, tearing her eyes from the clones. Even when
she looked away, she could feel their stares upon her, their eyes following
her, haunting her, as she moved through the lab. Even if they did not have
to leave, she did not want to stay in this place. Just as she could feel
the warmth of life in the city above, she could feel the vacant, hollow
emptiness that emanated from the centre of the room.
"Do you know how to work these things?" Ranma asked, gesturing to the first
row of computers.
"What? No... not really," Akane replied, forcing herself to concentrate.
She'd used them a little in school, but she hardly considered herself an
expert.
"Me either," Ranma replied, stroking her chin. She turned to the lab's
outer wall and inspected the nearest filing cabinet. "We'll just have to
see what they've got on paper."
Releasing Akane, she threw a swift punch at the cabinet, cracking the case
and causing the drawer to slide out, rattling loudly as it scraped along
the bent metal frame. "Fortunately, I know how -these- things work."
Akane stared as Ranma rifled through the stacks of paper held inside the
drawer, baffled at the speed with which the redhead's fingers moved - they
were little more than a blur darting through the papers. She knew Ranma
was fast, but she had never seen anything that fast before.
"Don't just stand there," Ranma chastised, not looking up from her task.
"Get searching."
"Okay," Akane replied, moving to the nearest cabinet. She punched it just
as Ranma had done and pulled out the top drawer. Reaching inside, she held
up the first folder, looked at it for a moment, and turned to Ranma. "What
am I looking for?"
"I don't know," Ranma admitted with a shrug, flipping through folder after
folder. "Anything that looks like it might be related to us."
"That could be anything," Akane observed as she flicked through the
contents of the first folder. Her eyes widened as she realised what the
folder contained. "'Effects of chemical nerve agent 329-B on human
subjects'? This is ..."
"It's irrelevant," Ranma replied dismissively. "Toss it and keep looking."
"Irrelevant?" Akane asked, taken aback. "How can you not care about this?
They're testing this stuff on people and you don't care?!"
"It doesn't matter," Ranma replied, an edge of irritation in her voice.
"We don't have time to look through everything. Toss it and find something
useful."
"This is horrible," Akane said, dropping the folder in disgust. What kind
of organisation was this Phoenix? Cloning, weapons research, chemical
weapons testing? What monstrous entity would dabble in such things?
Thumbing quickly to the next folder, she lifted it and began reading, eager
to put the first out of her mind.
* * *
Ranma frowned as she smashed open yet another filing cabinet. Their search
had so far been fruitless, and they had spent far longer in the lab than
she had anticipated. She was determined to find something, anything, to
make the trip worthwhile.
Weapons research reports, experimental analyses, even financial reports,
she tore through one after another after another, growing increasingly
angry at the documents' complete lack of relevance. There had to be
-something- good amongst all this junk.
Wait a minute, she thought as she lifted a small brown folder. This looks
interesting. 'Dragon/Human Hybrid Interaction Analysis'.
Opening the folder, she flicked through the pages, skimming over each one.
The report seemed to detail the effects of integrating a dragon with a
human - the effects of which she knew well enough herself, without having
to read a report. What captured her interest was the final page.
A series of names was listed on the page, each matched to a percentage
figure, which was identified as "measured compatibility".
"Hitomi, Asumi, Ai, Nabiki, Kaori, Ichiko, Eiko," she read, running her
finger slowly down the list. She fell into silence after a time, reading
each name to herself, until she drew to the final name on the list. "And
... Kayoko."
"What's this?" Akane asked, her attention piqued by Ranma's voice. "What's
that folder?"
"It's your family history," Ranma replied, still reading. "Hitomi, your
mother. Asumi, her mother. This list goes all the way back to Kayoko. I
had no idea they'd been following the entire line ..."
"Mother?" Akane asked, peering over Ranma's shoulder. She examined the
page, her curiosity running rampant. This was the first solid information
she had ever found regarding her mother. "What do these percentages
mean?"
"I don't know," admitted Ranma. They seemed to follow a pattern, with
Hitomi being rated at 99.3%, Asumi at 92.0%, Ai at 84.6%, and so on,
decreasing with each name until Kamiko, the child of Kayoko's sister, who
was rated at a mere 0.4%. The only strange figure was that beside Kayoko's
name - she was rated at 100.0%. "It's some sort of compatibility rating,
but compatibility with what, I don't know."
"Does it say anything else?"
"'Measured compatibility indices show a clear upward trend, but further
analysis is required at the MPC before any concrete conclusions can be
drawn from the data. Post-mortem cellular decay necessitates the location
of a live sample for experimentation,'" Ranma read from a small paragraph
at the foot of the page. "'Only living tissue will provide a truly
accurate measurement.'"
"I ... don't like the sound of that," Akane said, bristling. "That's all
there is? It doesn't explain any of that at all?"
"Yeah," Ranma replied. "The rest just talks about the effects of being
part-dragon, and I'm sure you're familiar with those already."
"Let me see," Akane insisted, tugging at the folder. "I want to see."
"Later," Ranma replied firmly, closing the folder. "While we're in here we
keep looking for more documents. We can read them later."
"But ...."
"No buts, Akane. This isn't the time."
"All right," Akane replied with a sigh, her face thoughtful. She would
look at the report for herself later on. Its existence in the lab fuelled
her hopes that she would find more information related to herself or her
mother. The more information she could find, the better.
"Get moving," Ranma insisted, nudging Akane toward the remaining cabinets.
"We've got to get out of here soon."
* * *
"Come on, Akane," Ranma insisted, stepping over toward the Tendo girl, who
was still bent over one of the cabinets, her head buried in the drawer.
"Okay, okay," Akane replied, her voice muffled by the wads of paper
surrounding her head. "I'm nearly done."
"We have to get moving. We've been here far too long."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Akane replied, digging deeper into the drawer.
She knew there was something hidden at the bottom of the drawer. There had
to be; she had found nothing else. She couldn't leave without finding it.
A loud 'whump' sound ceased her searches, however; the room was suddenly
plunged into darkness as the electricity cut out, the incessant whirring of
the computers disappearing into an eerie silence. Standing, she withdrew
her head from the drawer and looked around, unsure what to make of the
situation.
"What the hell--" Ranma began, her words cut off as a loud alarm sounded,
making both herself and Akane jump. The loud klaxon wail filled the air as
a series of red lights began to flash around the circumference of the room.
Before either of them could move, a solid iron barrier slid into place
over the exit.
"Oh, no," Ranma said, her voice carrying the weight of impending doom.
"Oh ... no."
"We're trapped!" Akane exclaimed, rushing over in the dim red light to the
metal seal that blocked the door. She banged her fists on it but to no
avail, it was solid, impenetrable. "What do we do now?"
A loud gurgling sound filled the air, making its presence known even over
the din of the klaxons. Ranma and Akane turned simultaneously to the centre
of the room, where the glass tubes were slowly emptying of water. Akane
swallowed, terror gripping her heart as she realised what was to come.
A series of loud pops and hisses rang through the room as the multitudes of
pipes and tubes connected to the four Hidari snapped loose, the tangled
webs of plastic falling away in mere moments. Freed from their restraints,
the four Hidari straightened, each turning to face Akane, their movements
perfectly synchronised.
"Stay behind me, Akane," Ranma instructed, stepping in front of the girl.
Garyoutensei appeared in her hand, illuminating the room with its pale
white glow. "I'll keep you safe."
Slowly, the glass tubes began to raise, opening a gap at their bases that
widened as the tubes slid away into the ceiling. Steam billowed out from
beneath the glass, filling the room with moisture as the seal between the
tubes and the floor was broken.
One by one, the Hidari blinked, their pupils shrinking as they focused
their eyes upon Akane. As one they stepped down to the floor, each staring
dispassionately at its target. Akane swallowed, fighting off a sudden
feeling of revulsion.
The Hidari carried a palpable sense of a void, of emptiness and darkness
within them. She had not sensed it before but it screamed at her now,
threatening to overwhelm her with its sheer strength and potency. They
radiated fear, terror that clawed at her with a chilling touch. Now she
could see these creatures for what they truly were.
"You'll never get her, you bastards," Ranma growled, raising her blade.
The air around it crackled with energy as she brought the sword forward,
its white light pushing back the ethereal gloom the Hidari carried with
them. Akane felt her hand drawn slowly toward Shoryoutensei, moving almost
of its own will to fulfil a yearning need to raise her sword alongside
Ranma's.
She could not let Ranma fight this battle alone. Not again. Not against
these ... things. Slowly, her fingers closed around the handle and pulled
it from its scabbard. For the first time, Akane Tendo prepared to join the
fight for her life.
= = = =
T E N
= = = =